Royer Mansion

by Jay
(Altoona, PA)

Royer Mansion is less touted than Baker Mansion, probably because it's in Williamsburg, which is kind of a drive from Altoona, like 45 minutes or so. On the other hand, Royer Mansion is also five times more haunted than Baker.

I believe Scott Crownover and Patty Wilson were our guides through a rare tour of Royer Mansion.(It's hard to get a tour because an old guy actually lives there.) From the second I entered the mansion until the time I left I got a noticeably heavy feeling in my chest and stomach that made me really feel like something wasn't right with the place. I'd never felt anything like that at Baker Mansion, or any other supposedly haunted building in Central PA.

Then Patty went on to tell us about the tens of people who experienced grisly deaths ranging from suicide to murder in this place. I especially felt uneasy in the basement and in the rooms that were set up to look like childrens' room with creepy looking dollhouses that I believe were actually left there. Also during the tour, in the attic several girls were alone and became freezing cold and even saw their own breath, even though it was above 60 degrees outside.

There was one kind of unbelievable story about an old couple living there, and while the husband was sleeping an invisible figure would enter the room, walk over to the old woman, and walk out leaving the door open. One night they put a lock on the door and the presence allegedly jiggled the doorknob so vigorously, the lock was broken and the footsteps proceeded as normal. The couple moved out the following day.

There were countless orbs, though not scientific proof of anything, everywhere inside and outside of the mansion, especially around an area where a male housekeeper hanged himself and was subsequently buried. It anyone ever gets a chance to catch this tour, and wants to experience a real haunting, definitely take it up.